


We Never Failed to Fail

by Politzania



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Gen, Not exactly Steve friendly, POV Steve Rogers, Steve Chooses Poorly, background pining, steve is Not Okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 07:50:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20078725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Politzania/pseuds/Politzania
Summary: Before going to Lagos, a tired and sick-at-heart Steve meets with Tony to share intel.





	We Never Failed to Fail

**Author's Note:**

> Title: We Never Failed to Fail  
Square: T5 - [Image: Steve & Tony sitting a table at a restaurant & Steve looks uncomfortable]  
Rating: General  
Warnings: not exactly Steve-friendly?  
Pairing: Steve Rogers & Tony Stark (mostly platonic)  
Summary: Before going to Lagos, a tired and sick-at-heart Steve meets with Tony to share intel.

Steve was tired, tired all the way down to his bones. Tired in a way he hadn’t been since Sokovia. Tired and sick at heart. He looked again at the text he’d gotten from Peggy’s caregivers: _The doctors say it’s only a matter of time._ He ought to be there, holding her hand as she breathed her last. But the Peggy he had known and loved was lost to him already — stolen away bit by bit by a terrible disease. 

He didn’t know whether it was a curse or a blessing that Peggy always knew who he was, even if the ‘when’ varied wildly from visit to visit. More than once, she had apologized for being on her sickbed and unable to make their date at the Stork Club; he’d simply smiled and told her that gave him a chance to take a few more lessons at the Arthur Murray studio. It was useless and cruel to argue, to try to bring her back to a reality where she had grown old and he had not. 

He dug into his pocket for his old compass; clutching it tight to draw bittersweet comfort from its presence. Peggy would understand why he couldn’t be at her deathbed — duty called. Steve read through the text from Natasha again: _Lagos is a go. W & I on way; S following. Just need you. _ He’d already replied, saying he had a bit of business to take care of first. 

That business was the result of yet another text: _Cap - since we’re in the same zip code for once - how about meeting me for some chow? -TS_”, followed by an address. He couldn’t say no to Tony; not after everything they had been through. Not with what Tony still meant to him.

Besides, Sam had been nagging him to get in touch with Tony for weeks; ever since they’d uncovered a bit of intel that — while of no help in determining the current whereabouts of Bucky — did more or less confirm the terrible truth that Zola had hinted at in the bunker in Lehigh: that the Winter Soldier was the weapon that Hydra had pointed at Howard and Maria Stark. 

That wasn’t the kind of thing you could put in an email or even share in a video call. It was news that had to be broken in person, so that he could be there to help pick up the pieces. And while Steve hadn’t worked up the courage to reach out to Tony previously, he could take this opportunity to make things right. 

“Hey, Cap. Glad you could make it.” Only a few minutes late, Tony breezed in through the door of the restaurant. He gave Steve a quick glance up and down before turning to the maitre’d. _“Henri, ma table habituelle, s’il vous plait?”_

_“Certainement.”_ Henri nodded and picked up two menus, gesturing for them to follow. Steve felt terribly underdressed, especially compared to Tony whose three piece suit was still somehow immaculate even at eight o’clock at night. But splitting time between missions (self-assigned and otherwise) and looking for Bucky didn’t leave a lot of time for shopping for clothes, or anything else approaching a normal kind of life. 

“What’s going on, Steve? Hate to say it, but you are not looking your star-spangled best.” 

“I’ve got a lot on my mind, Tony. Don’t know how good of company I’m going to be.” 

“I heard about Peggy — I’m sorry.” 

“Thank you.” Steve appreciated the sympathy.

“Did I ever tell you she was my godmother? I didn’t see her a whole lot of her growing up — she was a busy woman, of course. But she always remembered my birthday with a card, and sometimes she’d bring me souvenirs from trips overseas.” Tony rarely talked about his childhood with anyone; Steve recognized this for the precious gift it was. 

“But unfortunately, as much as I would like this to be a purely social occasion,” Tony continued, all business once again, “I do have some important news to impart. Official Avengers stuff and something a little more personal. Which would you like first?” 

“Business before pleasure, I suppose,” Steve replied, the same decision he’d been making when it came to Tony ever since that night at Clint’s farm. “I’ve, um, got something pretty important to tell you as well,” he added, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “But it can wait. You go first.” 

Tony nodded, then reached into his briefcase and pulled out a tablet. He tapped on it a few times, then slid it across the table, displaying an official-looking cover page. 

“‘The Sokovia Accords’?” Steve didn’t like the look of that at all. 

“It’s a set of guidelines regarding oversight of the activities of the Avengers and other meta humans.” Tony rattled off, as if he’d already said the phrase dozens of times. 

Steve snorted in derision. “Yeah, ‘cause that worked so well last time with the World Security Council.” 

Tony held out his hands placatingly. “I know, I know. But they have a point. We cause a lot of collateral damage when we tangle with bad guys.”

Steve winced at the reference to ‘collateral damage’; that had been the same phrase used in the Hydra report to refer to Maria Stark. 

“And it’s not just us anymore,” Tony continued. “There was that whole Pym Technologies mess in San Francisco a few months ago. Closer to home, there’s some daredevil guy taking on organized crime in Hell’s Kitchen and a kid in a red and blue onesie swinging around Queens like he’s the second coming of Tarzan. When they screw up — and yes, I said ‘when’ — everyone’s gonna be looking at us, wondering why we weren’t keeping an eye on them.” 

“I don’t like this, Tony. We aren’t vigilantes.” 

“We kinda are, Cap. What’s left of SHIELD barely has any credibility here in the States, much less anywhere else in the world. And most insurance companies have already re-defined their policies to take our actions into account. Despite the presence of Thor, Avengers-related damages don’t count as an ‘Act of God’ anymore.” 

Steve knew better than to argue; Tony had clearly done the research. But he also wouldn’t be putting this out there if he didn’t have a solution. “Okay. So, what’s the plan?” 

Tony tapped the tablet. “ The good news is that this is still a draft document. The bad news is that it’s already been reviewed for preliminary ratification by a significant number of countries, and will be going before the UN Security Council late next week. However, we can present our thoughts and propose modifications. I need you to get this to Romanov, Barton, Wilson and Maximoff. I’ve already got Rhodey and Vision looking over it.” 

“I can do that.” 

“In the meanwhile, we all probably ought to lay low. I know you guys have been trying to track down that Crossbones crackpot, but maybe we should let the Interpol folks do their jobs, okay?” 

Steve really didn’t want to lie to Tony, but they were so close to catching up to Rumlow and his gang of thugs. “I’ll talk to the team about it.” 

“That’s all I can ask.” Tony glanced over Steve’s shoulder. “Looks like our meal is here.” 

Steve had let Tony order for him — his French was too rusty for him to decipher the menu. The waiter set some sort of steak in front of him and it was delicious. However, after their tense discussion, he’d lost his appetite and ended up only picking at what was surely an incredibly expensive meal. 

“I take it you’re not interested in dessert?” Tony asked dryly. Steve noted that he hadn’t made much of a dent in his entree, either. 

“No thanks, Tony.” 

“Well, I’ve got a different kind of treat for you, then.” Tony took the tablet back out, tapped at it some more, then slid it back over to Steve. He looked down to see a grainy photo that took his breath away. It was Bucky. Maybe not the Bucky he knew from before, but he wasn’t the Soldier either, Steve was sure of that. 

“Tony ... how? Where?” Steve stammered, nearly at a loss for words. 

How? Well, Friday needed some practice on debugging her facial recognition software, so I thought we could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.” Tony grinned, clearly pleased with the gift he’d given Steve. “As for where, Bucharest, if you can believe it. No idea why Barnes holed up there, but that image is from earlier this week, so he’s probably still in the area.” 

Tony leaned back in his chair. “ Friday and I hacked into the Roumanian passport and driver’s registration databases, but your pal is probably clever enough to have faked either or both of those documents. I think we can narrow it down to a neighborhood, if that helps.” 

“It does,” Steve breathed. “Tony, I don’t know what to say. Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome.” And there was that smile, the real one that crinkled the corners of Tony’s eyes. The one that made Steve think dangerous thoughts. “You said you had something you wanted to tell me?” 

A terrible realization hit Steve. If he told Tony that it had been Bucky who killed his parents, how would he react? Would he take the knowledge of Bucky’s location and use it to hunt him down, exact revenge? Or at the very least maybe Tony would turn Bucky into the authorities, where he would spend months, maybe years in prison until enough proof could be gathered to prove that Sergeant Barnes, a war hero had been nothing but a pawn and a brainwashed POW? Steve couldn’t take that chance. He’d wait to tell Tony until Bucky was safe and back where he belonged. 

“Just... that I appreciate everything you’ve done and continue to do for us, Tony. Our team wouldn’t be what it is without you.” It wasn’t a lie — Steve was truly thankful for Tony’s support, both financial and otherwise, even if he himself longed for something more between them. Tony had given him and the other Avengers somewhere where they felt like they belonged. Steve desperately wanted that for Bucky as well; to be able to bring his dearest friend home for once and for all. 

Tony blinked, a cautious, pleased look on his face, as if he hadn’t expected Steve’s words of thanks. “It’s my pleasure. It’s what I do for my friends.” He patted the table sharply before standing up. “Unfortunately duty calls with a very early conference call tomorrow morning. I gotta get going. Good night, Steve, and take care of yourself.”

“You too, Tony.” They shook hands and Steve watched Tony walk away.


End file.
